Week 2, Assignments 1 and 2: Appeal Factors

Assignment 1: Neal Wyatt's Appeal Factors

Excellent piece! I appreciated the level of detail that Wyatt goes into when describing the eight elements of appeal. He takes his time in constructing a comprehensive description of each appeal factors and provides concrete examples along the way. The titles he selects each serve to highlight a particular appeal element or one particular facet of an appeal element (as in his comparison and contrast of the characteristics of pace in his description of Downie's Medicus and Reilly's Ice Station). 

 

Assignment 2: Rely Mainly on Appeal Factors (Not Plot Summary) to Describe Two Books I've Enjoyed

For this assignment I selected Amelia Lost! by Candace Fleming and Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu. I read these for the 2012 Mock Newberys and had written up a little review of each. The challenge in this case was in imagining that I was recommending these books verbally, without the smoother, more detailed description a written review can provide. For this, I tried to recall how I'd historically described each to parents and children and attempted to blend this brevity with the lengthier written version from a year ago.

Amelia Lost!

Tension! Suspense! Mystery!

These are not elements typically associated with children’s biographies, but Amelia Lost! is anything but typical.  

Author Candace Fleming takes a unique approach to Earhart’s biography, interweaving both a fast-paced narrative (Amelia’s final flight) and a more leisurely-paced one (Amelia's life from childhood until through the final flight).  This presentation is skillfully rendered and offers alternating between blow-by-blow coverage of Amelia’s final hours and a comprehensive, yet wholly engaging biography of her life from birth to the last lark. 

Fleming’s organizational layout of the available information is distinctly reminiscent of the Dorling Kindersley's (DK Books) publications for children. Photographs, quotes, trivia and web links supplement an the otherwise suspenseful story. Comprehensive without being dense, Amelia Lost provides enough biographical information and dramatic action to shine as an example of both an enjoyable and informative read.

Recommended for children ages 9-14 and especially for fans of books in the DK series. It also serves as a great jumping off point for elementary and middle schoolers who are new to research and reports.

Breadcrumbs

In Anne Ursu's Breadcrumbs, folkloric symbolism and language are deliberately and expertly blended with a bittersweet story of growing up.

Ursu builds on a wide range of fairytale archetypes, both traditional and modern, to tell the tale of fifth-graders Hazel and Jack, best friends bonded by imagination and mutual understanding, whose friendship will be tested by a magic mirror, an opportunistic snow queen and the all-too-real influences of modern preadolescence.

It is a Highly Symbolic tale, brushing on such issues as personal and cultural identity, escapism and the grief of friendship’s change. Recommended for children ages 10 - 14 who enjoy new takes on iconic fantasy. 

Among Breadcrumbs’ merits is one feature every parent and caregiver will particularly love: vocabulary. Ursu does not compromise the scope of language used in Breadcrumbs by talking down to her readers. As a result, the text of Breadcrumbs is fairly saturated with new vocabulary which, because of its place in the unfolding narrative, remains accessible to young readers.